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LANCE Armstrong is planning to attend the Tour Down Under in
January, irrespective of the world cycling body's ruling on his
eligibility to compete in the race.

While Tour Down Under organisers refused to comment on the
likelihood of the seven-time Tour de France champion taking part in
their event, Armstrong's management yesterday said the cycling
legend intends  at the very least  to travel to
Adelaide and promote cancer awareness.

Armstrong's participation in the six-day race that would launch
his comeback after three years in retirement remains in doubt
because the January 20 start falls only days before the six-month
pre-competition period Armstrong is required to be on the UCI's
anti-doping register elapses.

After trumpeting his entry a fortnight ago, Tour Down Under
organisers and South Australian Government officials are now
anxiously awaiting a decision from the Union Cycliste
International.

The UCI has said little since president Pat McQuaid questioned
whether Armstrong would be eligible to compete in the Tour Down
Under.

It remains unclear  even to race organisers  whether
McQuaid alone will make the ruling, or whether a committee has been
assembled in Switzerland to handle the matter.

UCI rules state that cyclists returning from retirement must be
available for unannounced drug tests for six months before they
compete in UCI-sanctioned events.

Armstrong registered with the US Anti-Doping Agency's
out-of-competition testing pool on August 1, which means that he
would not be allowed to race internationally until February 1
 which is 12 days after the Tour Down Under begins.

That Armstrong competed in a UCI-sanctioned cyclocross event in
Las Vegas on September 24  a day after he announced his
comeback in New York  is a blatant anomaly. And the case of
veteran Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini, who came out of retirement
this year, is also compelling. Cipollini made his comeback at the
Tour of California before he had fulfilled the requirement that
cyclists must give the UCI "at least" six months notice and be
available for drug testing throughout.

Armstrong was last week optimistic that the UCI would permit him
to race in Australia and said his agent, Bill Stapleton, discussed
his comeback with McQuaid in mid-July. The Age believes that
Armstrong's management got a verbal assurance from the UCI that he
would be permitted to compete in Australia, and that Tour Down
Under organisers received similar  independent 
information.

"At the moment, we are still waiting (on) word from the UCI,"
Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins told The Age in an email
yesterday.

"But regardless of their decision, we still intend to make the
trip to Adelaide to help spread the word of the Livestrong message
and the global cancer fight".

Tour Down Under race director Mike Turtur was expecting a ruling
from the UCI last Friday.

Yesterday, he would not forecast when the decision would be
made, or guess what it would be.

SA Premier Mike Rann last week spoke with McQuaid and said
afterwards that he was "quietly optimistic" that Armstrong would
make his road-racing comeback in Australia.

The SA Government has already launched an advertising campaign
promoting Armstrong's participation in the Tour Down Under and have
tipped that his participation would spark record interest in the
event, domestically and internationally.

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